CLEVELAND – As if the crazy, mustached mountain man needed another shot of adrenaline.

Lloyd Woodard will certainly get it tonight, in the form of rookie cornerman Joe Lozito.

Woodard (12-1 MMA, 2-1 BFC) faces Rick Hawn (12-1 MMA, 4-1 BFC) in lightweight-tournament-semifinal action on the main card of Bellator 66. The event takes place tonight at the I-X Center in Cleveland, and airs on MTV2 (and in high-definition on EPIX). Meanwhile, preliminary-card fights stream on MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) and Spike.com.

Lozito, a mixed-martial-arts fan, gained nationwide publicity after he subdued knife-wielding, multi-murderer Maksim Gelman on the New York City subway following a weekend killing spree in February 2011.

After discovering the story, it struck a chord with Woodard. He was taken aback by the fearlessness and heroism demonstrated by Lozito and wanted to do something to show his appreciation.

“What he did was an amazing thing,” Woodard told MMAjunkie.com.

The pair initially made contact on Twitter. Then Woodard decided to call into MMAjunkie.com Radio on March 29 while Lozito was being interviewed.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I want to fly this guy (Lozito) out if there are any sponsors out there that would love to fly him out to corner me,'” Woodard said. “I think he’ll give me more motivation than anything ever. I fight off motivation. I ain’t from a big school, so I fight purely off heart, getting at it wild style – ‘mountain man’ style as I like to put it.”

Clothing brands Future Legend and Underground Clown stepped up to the plate and made it happen.

“They are awesome,” Woodard said. “They paid for his plane tickets. They also paid for the hotel room, and they threw me some bucks too. They have been overwhelmingly nice.”

Lozito arrived in Cleveland around 11 a.m. on Thursday and has been shadowing Woodard ever since.

Helping, actually. Not shadowing. Lozito didn’t want to be just a fly on the wall.

“He’s like, ‘If you need me to do anything, I’m there,'” Woodard said. “If he wants to hold pads, whatever. I don’t need no game plan. I don’t need no coaching. All I need is my motivation to get me in the ring. Once I get there in the ring it’s like, I’m going to go in there and fight my heart out.”

Lozito was adjacent to the stage inside the I-X Center ballroom on Thursday as a fired up Woodard tipped the scale at 154.5 pounds.

They’ll be much closer in proximity on fight night.

“My heart will not stop beating with him in my corner,” Woodard said. “Until I come out victorious. I will go out there and put it all on the line. That’s what motivates me. If you ever see me before my fights, I’m yelling, I’m screaming. I’m not the kind that is trying to save my energy.”

Regardless of the outcome, Woodard is more than thrilled to have the opportunity to share a couple days with Lozito. It’s something he’ll never forget.

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